1. Field of the Invention
Exemplary aspects of the present invention relate to a lubricant application device, a process cartridge, and an image forming apparatus using the lubricant application device, and more particularly, to a lubricant application device, a process cartridge, and an image forming apparatus using the lubricant application device for preventing a foreign substance from scattering and for efficiently applying a lubricant.
2. Description of the Related Art
A related-art image forming apparatus, such as a copying machine, a facsimile machine, a printer, or a multifunction printer having two or more of copying, printing, scanning, and facsimile functions, forms a toner image on a recording medium (e.g., a sheet) according to image data by electrophotography. For example, a charger charges a surface of an image carrier. An optical writer emits a light beam onto the charged surface of the image carrier to form an electrostatic latent image on the image carrier according to the image data. A developing device develops the electrostatic latent image with a developer (e.g., toner) to form a toner image on the image carrier. The toner image is transferred from the image carrier onto a sheet via an intermediate transfer belt. A fixing device applies heat and pressure to the sheet bearing the toner image to fix the toner image on the sheet. Thus, the toner image is formed on the sheet.
After the toner image is transferred from the image carrier, a cleaning blade cleans the surface of the image carrier. For example, the cleaning blade slidably contacts the surface of the rotating image carrier to remove a foreign substance including residual toner remaining on the surface of the image carrier. As the cleaning blade continues slidably contacting the surface of the image carrier, the cleaning blade and the image carrier wear over time, thereby losing effectiveness. Moreover, when spherical toner particles having a small particle diameter are used in order to form a high quality image, the toner particles may invade a minute space between the image carrier and the cleaning blade and cause the cleaning blade to slip, resulting in insufficient cleaning of the surface of the image carrier.
In order to address this problem, one example of a related-art image forming apparatus includes a lubricant application device for applying a lubricant to the image carrier. Application of the lubricant to the surface of the image carrier may decrease a friction coefficient of the surface of the image carrier, thereby preventing wear of the cleaning blade and the image carrier so that lifetimes thereof may be extended. Further, the decrease in friction coefficient of the surface of the image carrier may prevent deformation of an edge of the cleaning blade and generation of a space between the image carrier and the cleaning blade, thereby preventing degradation in cleaning performance of the cleaning blade.
Another example of the related-art image forming apparatus includes a lubricant application device further including a lubricant smoother. The lubricant smoother smoothes a lubricant applied to the image carrier to form a lubricant layer of uniform thickness. Therefore, generation of a faulty image including a white spot, an image blur, and an insufficient image transfer may be prevented, and a function of a lubricant supplier (e.g., a rotating brush) to apply the lubricant to the image carrier may be maintained for a long time period.
However, a foreign substance including residual toner removed by the cleaning blade and a powder of the lubricant scraped by the rotating brush may scatter and adhere to functional components of the image forming apparatus, thereby causing generation of a faulty image. Further, when the foreign substance scatters in an axial direction of the image carrier, the foreign substance may adhere to components near the image carrier. Accordingly, when a user removes the image carrier from the image forming apparatus for maintenance or inspection, the foreign substance adhering to the components near the image carrier may adhere to the user, causing the user discomfort.